Tenure

The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that a 2013 effort to do away with tenure for teachers is unconstitutional.

Two years ago, lawmakers repealed a law that allowed teachers to earn tenure after serving four years on the job. In its place, they passed a law that would do away with those job protections in 2018 and allow teachers to give it up voluntarily for a $5,000 bonus over three years.

North Carolina teachers would receive an average $5,800 raise next year under the Senate’s plan to boost teacher pay. But there’s a trade-off. Teachers must give up tenure to get the raise and to help fund the raises the number of teaching assistants would be cut in half.

Rumblings of a teacher walk-out on November 4th have been popping up on social media for the past few weeks. But that’s now been replaced with what organizers are calling a “walk-in.”

Many teachers are frustrated with state lawmakers. Teacher pay has stayed pretty much the same for the past five years, except for a one percent raise last year. This year the legislature eliminated tenure and a salary boost for master’s degrees. Add to that an increase in testing and momentum was building for a walk-out on November 4th.